In Salvador, Neojiba helps young people build careers through luthiery, turning music education into jobs, skills, and social inclusion.

While significant gains have been recorded in poverty reduction, education, and social protection coverage, structural inequalities, labour market informality, gender disparities, and declining trust in institutions continue to impede inclusive and sustainable development. The 2026 World Day of Social Justice recognizes the progress achieved and acknowledges persistent and emerging challenges. It calls for strengthening policy coherence across economic, social, and environmental dimensions, reinforcing multilateral cooperation, and placing equity and solidarity at the center of global policymaking.

In a new episode of the Future of Work podcast, we unpack the International Labour Organization’s new Employment and Social Trends 2026 report with its lead author, Stefan Kühn, and ILO trade expert Marva Corley. Together, they explore why labour markets look stable yet remain fragile – and what this means for job quality, inequality, and the future of work.

As a child helping his family make shoes, Jestoni Go Padua later became a school instructor, now empowering young people with skills for decent work and a better future.

Despite conflicts, debt pressures, and climate shocks, 2025 proved more resilient than expected for the global economy. Growth held at around 2.7 percent as countries adapted through digitalization, AI adoption, and diversified supply chains. Against this backdrop, the World Bank Group made job creation its central mission, recognizing jobs as the strongest path out of poverty and instability. With 1.2 billion young people entering the workforce over the next decade, the Bank focused on five high-impact sectors: energy and infrastructure, agribusiness, health care, tourism, and manufacturing. By mobilizing private capital and partnerships, 2025 laid the groundwork for inclusive, job-driven growth heading into 2026.

This episode from ILO's PROSPECTS podcast explores how the private sector can drive economic inclusion of young refugees by expanding access to decent work and protecting their rights at work. Roman Bojko, Human Rights and Social Impact Leader at Ingka Group shares more about the company’s global Skills for Employment initiative and lessons learned from integrating refugee talent across 26 countries. The conversation highlights how hiring refugees is not just the right thing to do - it’s also good for business, fostering innovation, resilience, and inclusion in the workplace.

Alaa Mhairat tells us how she gained financial independence and found work in an agricultural project to create a green environment for her community in Jordan.

Natalia Cebanu from Moldova shares how access to childcare support gave her greater freedom and equal opportunities as a working mother of two.

Investing in care isn’t just compassion, it’s powerful economics that creates jobs, empowers women, and builds healthier, fairer societies for generations.

As tourism rebounds, a mismatch between labor supply and demand, driven by low wages, informality, and skills shortages, highlights the urgent need for investment in training, and inclusive workforce development.

The majority of the world’s refugees live in countries with fragile economies, where opportunities for employment and self-reliance are often limited. With displacement lasting more than a decade on average, the question of how refugees can build sustainable livelihoods has become increasingly urgent.
In this fifth episode of ILO's Refugees at work – What are their Prospects?, Professor Alexander Betts and Bisimwa Mulemangabo discuss how refugees navigate labour markets, the barriers they face, and the innovative ways they create livelihoods.

On its 10th anniversary, World Youth Skills Day (15 July) focuses on empowering youth through artificial intelligence (AI) and digital learning. Today, 7 in 10 young people—some 450 million—are disconnected from economic opportunities due to a lack of adequate skills. From basic literacy to advanced digital and AI skills, empowering young people helps them not only adapt, but lead change. On this day, add your voice to the global celebration! Use #WorkLifeReady and #YouthLead to share your story and uplift others on the path to success.

The global labour market is undergoing a profound transformation, driven by rapid technological innovation, environmental changes, and shifting demographics. While these developments hold the promise of increased productivity and greater cross-border collaboration, they also present significant challenges to the goal of achieving decent work for all. These critical issues are being addressed at the ILO’s 9th Regulating for Decent Work Conference in Geneva, from 2 to 4 July, where experts are exploring solutions around decent employment, worker empowerment, and stronger labour institutions.

With 1.2 billion young people in emerging economies reaching working age over the next decade—and only about 420 million jobs expected to be generated—the urgency of finding scalable and sustainable solutions has never been greater.

In this episode of The Development Podcast, we hear from one young person about their journey into the world of work and what the World Bank Group is doing to address one of the most urgent issues facing development: how to meet the stable employment aspirations of the developing world's fast-growing youth population.

Things should be looking good for young people in the world of work, but they’re not. While unemployment among young workers between 15 and 24 has recovered from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, there’s a growing epidemic of unhappiness among those workers in both the developed and now the developing world. So, what is to be done? This podcast asks David Blanchflower, a professor at Dartmouth College, renowned labour economist and recognized expert on youth employment, what can be done.